Three drunken Scotland fans who shouted ‘vile’ abuse at England rugby coach Eddie Jones have been labelled disgraceful by magistrates.

The trio started ‘almost hounding’ Mr Jones after bumping into him at Manchester’s Oxford Road train station the day after their side defeated England in rugby union’s Six Nations, a court heard.

Magistrates were told Ritchie Cleeton, 22, Connor Inglis, 25 and Brett Grant, 23, all from Edinburgh, were part of a group who initially asked Mr Jones for a photo on the approach to the station on February 25 this year - the morning after his side had lost 25-13 to the Scots in the Calcutta Cup match at Murrayfield.

However they then became abusive and Mr Jones was called ‘a baldy c***’ on more than one occasion, Carl Miles prosecuting on behalf of British Transport Police said.

He said Mr Jones was being met at the station by a driver and ‘given his status, being considered somewhat of V.I.P’ a member of Network Rail staff also went to greet him off the train.

Eddie Jones posed for a selfie between two of the Scotland fans at Oxford Road station (Image: BBC Sport)

The prosecution said initially one of the group asked for a photo and “realising they were opposing fans” he agreed “possibly in an attempt to diffuse the situation.”

However, things got “more and more disorderly” Mr Miles added.

He said he was called a ‘f*****g baldy c***’ and one of the group first rubbed Mr Jones on the head and possibly even tried to kiss him on the head.

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He said Mr Jones’ driver and the member of station staff ‘became concerned for his safety’ and started to usher him to his waiting car on the forecourt in front of the station.

However as he was led away the “chanting, singing and swearing” continued with Grant said to have opened the car door as one of the group repeated the ‘vile’ insults.

The men shouted foul-mouthed abuse at Eddie Jones as he got in a car to leave Oxford Road station (Image: BBC Sport)

Mr Jones was said to be “visibly quite shaken” with his driver saying he feared it could have escalated and “potentially become physical” had he not been ushered to the car when he was.

Mr Miles said the footage of the incident, which was played in court, was uploaded to several social media platforms, including YouTube, and still images were produced from the video as part of the bid to trace them.

Most of them voluntarily visited police stations in Scotland for interviews after pictures of their faces were circulated in a media appeal.

The men claim Mr Jones made an abusive comment to them after they ‘ribbed’ him about the defeat the night before and that’s what caused the situation to escalate.

(Image: BBC Sport)

Ritchie Cleeton, Inglis and Grant all pleaded guilty to a public order offence of using threatening or abusive words / behaviour or disorderly behaviour likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress.

Matthew Wallace, defending all three men, described Mr Jones as a ‘divisive’ character who had ‘gone out of his way to upset fans of other rugby playing nations’ and said he would have come to expect ‘banter’ from fans.

He said: “The prosecution say Mr Jones was being collected by a driver as he’s somewhat of a VIP.

“I think it’s also fair to say he’s somewhat of a divisive character. There are people in the public eye who this type of incident wouldn’t have happened to.

“He’s someone who has gone out of his way to upset fans of other rugby playing nations.

Brett Grant

Mr Wallace said before the England v Scotland game Mr Jones had said the Scottish team ‘couldn’t handle the expectation’ and also cited examples of him calling the Irish ‘Scummy’ and calling Wales a ‘s****y little place.’

Mr Wallace said the three men hadn’t been to the game and it was ‘only by chance’ they were travelling down to Manchester at the same time as Mr Jones.

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“There was a response from Mr Jones and they say that response was abusive to one of their number and that’s what caused it to escalate.

“Once he decided to walk-off their behaviour clearly got out of hand.

“But there was nothing threatening about their conduct. It was all stand-offish. No one is trying to hit him or manhandle him. It was always verbal and meant to be verbal.

Connor Inglis

“They had had a drink and met a divisive character who would have come to expect banter in different directions.

“There was an attempt to to give some ribbing to someone who had just lost a match.

“It is an incident which was very limited. It lasted a matter of seconds, that’s what we are talking about.

“Mr Jones doesn’t make a complaint and these three men were identified after others decided something should be done about it.”

All three men were fined and ordered to pay costs

Cleeton, of Carrick Knowe Avenue, was ordered to pay fines and costs of £235, Inglis, of Cornhill Terrace, received a fine and costs of £220 and Grant, of Drum Crescent, was given a total financial penalty of £255.

Chairman of the bench Joe Bangudu, said: “This was a short-lived, but disgraceful incident.

“Your language has been described by your defence as industrial.

“We don’t think it industrial. We think it was vile. Probably the vilest we have heard so far.

“Therefore it is completely unacceptable to directed at anybody.

Ritchie Cleeton

“The location you chose to display your drunken behaviour was in the public vicinity.

“It was not just Mr Jones who was in that vicinity, there could have been kids and others nearby who could have been affected, and that should be taken into consideration.

“They should not have to put up with such language.

“We gave you the opportunity to say something and you have not shown any kind of remorse at all, which is a concern to us.”

After the incident, he said he would be reluctant to travel on public transport in future.

He said: “For me to travel on public transport, I thought was okay.

“But I’ll make sure I won’t in future. It’s as simple as that. I can’t because it was shown on Sunday what happens when I do. It wasn’t comfortable.

“I never knock back a request for a selfie unless I’m racing to somewhere. So I try and do the right thing by the fans but if that happens then you’ve got to have a look at your own safety. That’s the world we live in.

“As an Australian coaching in England, there were always going to be challenges and that’s just one of them.”

When asked if he would have been better travelling in first class he said: “I’m a human being. I don’t consider myself any different from anyone else.”